


Random Arrows

by iluvaqt



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Domestic Bliss, Established Relationship, F/M, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Road Trips, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-17
Updated: 2016-01-08
Packaged: 2018-03-30 23:14:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3955591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iluvaqt/pseuds/iluvaqt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of shorts; Alternate Universe, Prompts, Alternate Endings, Episode Fixes, Episode Speculation fic, PWP. </p><p>Not posted in the order they were written (hopefully in episode related order), until I start new stuff. </p><p>If you send me a prompt or one liner (I'll add more), please give me time to make something of it. I'm a working mum and this is my escapism. </p><p>I stop when it stops being fun.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Fine Thread

**Author's Note:**

> .
> 
> Disclaimer: I don’t own these characters. I mess with them purely to entertain myself and others. I’m not making money from this. No infringement of copyright is intended.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes you have to choose the devil you know. We make the ultimate sacrifice for the ones we love the most.
> 
> Warning: It's angsty and someone gets hurt, badly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this in response to a Twitter prompt (months ago) over the lack of Olicity fic in response to Stephen Amell's media answers at the Paleyfest.

 

Loving her comes as easy as breathing.  
Her smile is as vibrant as sunlight playing off icy prisms in a cirrus cloud.  
Her laughter is a healing balm for a dark and tortured soul.

  
There are so many facets to her beauty.   
Her wit and intelligence, her classic grace and elegance.   
Her quiet enduring strength and her loyalty.  
  
Rainbows are beautiful, the Maker's promise.   
Without resistance I am chasing the end of the rainbow.   
I don't comprehend that it can never be caught.  
  
A treasured dream.  
She will never be mine.  
Because rainbows fade.

::: ::: :::

Diggle was trying to keep the jet as steady as possible. But Oliver winced with every bump as the jostling caused Felicity to cry out. He would do anything to take the pain away. Literally anything. If there was a way he could trade places with her right now, he would do it in a heartbeat.

  
"I'm here. Felicity, I'm here for you. Just hang on, okay? Fight," his voice wavered. He paused, gathering his walls. The mental block he'd built in his mind to throw all his fears, doubts, desires, dreams and guilt behind. He couldn't break. She needed him to stay strong, he couldn't falter now. If he broke, everything would come crashing down. He pushed his fears aside and focused on her tear stained face. She was trying to be strong, she was biting back the pain and he could see how much energy she was expending doing it.

"Breathe, Felicity. Don't hold it in. You need to breathe, push away the pain. Take my hand. I've got you," he said squeezing her hand tightly. Her hand was trembling and cold. He took off his gloves and enveloped his hands around hers. Willing his warmth to spread to her. To keep her anchored, to keep her energy up, to keep her with him.

  
Roy had bandaged her as tightly as he could so that it would leave Oliver's hands free, and Thea was desperately ransacking through all their meagre supplies to look for water.

Oliver bowed his head over their joined hands, his eyes not missing the bloodied green gloves on the floor at his feet. It was his worst nightmare come to life. Felicity hurt because of her connection to him. Arrow, Oliver Queen, the Hood, it didn't matter which he was, in the end it had all lead to this.

He felt a shaky hand run down the side of his face. "Stop it," he heard her soft chastising whisper. "My...choice."

Her eyes fixed on his as he lifted his head. Her fingers were slightly sticky from where she'd pressed her hand against her wound before help had arrived. He leaned into her touch and kept one hand over it, cupping her hand in place. Her touch was icy and before he could stop it, he felt hot tears run down his cheek and trickle over their intertwined fingers. Through her black, red frames he could see her clear blue eyes studying him with gentle concern and dare he even accept it, love. He'd done nothing to encourage those feelings. After she'd effectively told him what he could do with his feelings, shove off, basically.. he'd done what she wanted. He had distanced himself from her personally, as much as he could. Once he'd accepted his feelings for Felicity, it was impossible not to love her. To be in love with her. But he'd put those feelings behind the wall too. They had a nasty habit of escaping and attacking him when he least expected it, like at Diggle and Lyla's wedding, when honestly he had been naïve not to expecting that to happen then but he really thought he had gotten better at hiding his feelings.

"I choose you."

Right now his walls were cracking, his facade was faltering miserably because of her words, because of her stare and because he had failed her.. She was watching him, breathing deeply and evenly as he'd instructed, her blue gaze fixed on him and all he wanted to do was hold her and kiss her.

So he did what he could to not crowd her face and steal her oxygen by covering her mouth. Instead he pressed his nose into her hair and his cheek to hers. Shifting her hand to the back of his head. It was reassuring to find a little of her warmth remained at the juncture of her shoulder and neck, where her golden satiny unbound hair fanned around her. She smelled of jasmine, maple syrup and home.

She went stiff beside him and squeezed his hand suddenly, Oliver jerked back in time to see her wide frightened eyes before they rolled back to white. Her grip went slack and he was shocked into immobility for all of a second, before he flew into action.

He threw back the blanket to see if they'd missed something. Diggle was no surgeon but he had a steady hand and he had field med training that he'd brushed up on since joining the team. There had been no bleeds unaccounted for when he'd closed up the wound. It had been a miracle that no major arteries or organs had been nicked. Fleetingly, Oliver wondered if that was intentional. So she would die a slow death, or if this was merely a message? Nyssa couldn't have known how strong Felicity was, that she wasn't just a tech genius. That she was tough, that she'd been raised with a fighting spirit.

Oliver didn't realize how much he'd convinced himself that she could get through this. That she was strong enough, until he felt the tether break.

"Ollie, what's wrong?" Thea asked her tone thick with worry. She'd seen him freeze and was across the small space of the cabin in a swift move.

"No," he growled firmly. "No," he said more insistently. Pressed his fingers to her throat, searching for a pulse. He found none. Leaning close to her lips he prayed for breath but no gentle exhale touched his skin.

Roy, who had crashed the second John the started up the engines, jerked awake at Oliver's sharp denial. He awoke to meet Oliver's wild gaze.

"Use the sat. phone and get Waller on the line."

Roy immediate for up and went for the cockpit. Diggle would be their fastest option, he also had the phone.

Oliver tilted her head back, pinched her nose and breathed into her mouth, feeling her chest expand with air he knew he was doing it right. He had been a master of death, he hadn't ever performed CPR beyond being trained by Maseo.  
He started compressions, mindful to keep the pressure of his hands away from her wound as much as he could.  
As he leaned closer to breathe for her again, he watched her face for any sign of life.

"Come back to me," he whispered desperately. He breathed into her and then resumed compressions.  
He ignored the wetness on his face and cleared the lump threatening to close his throat over with a gruff cough.  
"I choose you too, Felicity. I love you and I never stopped. We're not done. This fight isn't over, so you don't get to quit on me. Now fight."

On the third set of compressions, her eyes opened and rolled wildly, she coughed and spasmed gripping his arm tightly.  
His face betrayed his relief with a unrestrained smile and he brushed back the hair from her face. He helped resettle her on jet's lounge sofa and tucked the blanket around her properly.

"Oliver?" she whispered, her voice husky and weak, revealing her disorientation.

"I'm here. Just stay with me."

Her eyelids fluttered but before she closed them completely, she reached for his face, wiping away the tears that had collected in his beard.

"Love you," she said, tiredly.

He nodded wordlessly and kissed her forehead, lingering to feel the reassuring breath leave her lips.

Holding her wrist he could feel her pulse, it was weak and slow. He prayed she would hold on long enough till they could get her proper care.

::: ::: :::

Amanda met them waiting with an ambulance on a private airstrip outside Hong Kong. It was fortunate she was in China because Felicity wouldn't make the 14hr flight back to Starling.

The flight out of a small airstrip near the Bamiyan Valley, Afghanistan was perilously long enough and Oliver had done CPR twice already. Felicity needed proper medical attention desperately.

"You mentioned my debt. Your list means nothing to me. What incentive do I have to help you?"

Oliver growled, his jaw set and his eyes flashing. He knew that his offer to wipe her slate clean with him wouldn't be enough but he didn't think she was going to delay treatment and hash it out right there on the tarmac.

He wanted to kill her where she stood. Force her people to help Felicity at gun point if necessary. He felt Diggle at his shoulder and pushed his frustrations aside. John had a lot to lose here too. Lyla would never be free of Waller's influence and in truth neither was he. It was time he admitted that.

"My family, my team stays free of all this. The Arrow witch hunt goes away and you save Felicity Smoak," he said levelly. He fixed her with an unblinking glare.

Waller met his gaze without flinching, her arms folded casually over her chest. "You return to the fold, no protest and we have a deal, Mr. Queen. You make trouble or renege on your end of our deal at anytime and my original warning to you stands at an added casualty. Do we understand each other?"

"Oliver," Diggle said in caution. His tone lanced with doubt and concern.

"We have an understanding," he said with conviction.

He felt Diggle flag in disappointment but his friend didn't say a word in protest.

Waller twitched a smile. "She'll have the best medical care. I suggest you get back on that plane, Mr. Queen. You'll check in with HQ at 0900. I'll brief you with a update on Ms. Smoak's status then. Mr. Diggle," she said with a dismissing nod.

Diggle put a hand on his arm. "I go on record saying this the worst plan you've ever had but right now, it's the best chance she has. I'll stay with her. I won't leave her side until we can get our girl back home."

Ignoring the startled looks of the medial officers in the van, John got in and took a position of vigil beside Felicity's still form.

The last thing Oliver saw was a large dark hand enveloping one too pale, before the doors closed.

He bowed his head and whispered a silent plea for mercy. A desperate wish that she pull through. That she would survive. This was her best chance. She might hate him for it in the end but he couldn't let her die. Not for his sins, not if he had the power to change her fate.

They had emergency cash. He would find a pilot and get their rest of his family home. They wouldn't have to live in hiding anymore. He'd done what he could to keep them safe.

He knew his freedom came with a price. Since the accident landed him on Lian Yu he'd known that his chances of coming home were slim to none but he'd had hope. It was one battle after another for life and liberty since.

If the cost of the safety of his loved ones meant that he would forever be a slave to Waller's control then he would gladly pay it. There were worse fates and masters. Better the devil you know and all that.

 


	2. Episode Fix 3.17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ray hit Arsenal with a full hard light blast, he was totally out of commission face down, partially drowning in a pool of rain water.
> 
> There was no apology, no remorse. Felicity was not okay with that. Not at all.
> 
> This disregards her making up with Ray and she doesn't go to the meeting with the Mayor.

::: ::: :::

Felicity watched him blink back his shock at seeing Ray at the John and Lyla’s wedding. She watched him school his face and shut down his emotions when she admired the bouquet in her hand, suspecting where his thoughts had gone but had cut them off just as quickly.

After being called out and then confronted by Ray, which ended in the best way she could have hoped for considering she didn’t know Ray even a tenth of how she knew Oliver. It was that startling and sobering thought that stopped her from driving home.

The red light switched from green to caution and back to red, she was only startled from her thoughts when a truck full of rowdy youths flew past on the other side of the road.

She flicked on her turning signal and waited for the light. On green she turned the car around and went back to the Foundry. She should have been going to the meeting with the Mayor. Ray trusted her judgement, he was giving them a chance. Both them as a possible couple and the Arrow to prove his innocence and catch the real perps and all she could think about was how great Oliver had gotten at lying… to the team (withholding things like Ra’s offer), to her (about being happy for her) and best of all lying to himself. She had the nerve to stand up to Malcolm Merlyn, she could lock out her boss from his private super hush pet project but she couldn’t get Oliver to admit how he really felt about her or actually tell him the truth about her own feelings?.

It had to stop. She had gotten him to see the folly in giving up on the Arrow and taking Ra’s offer, essentially losing himself forever. Either he’d forgotten the League’s sever all other bonds, part of the fealty pledge or he was taking the easy out to escape them. To leave her. It hurt to think that he was so tortured by the idea of them that he’d ever consider joining, much less leading the League of Assassins. She didn’t realize how conflicted and torn up she was over her feelings until she’d been confronted with the real possibility that she had to choose between Ray and Oliver. Oliver being the closed book and emotionless droid he was making himself out to be, she knew he would never make her feel like she had to make any sacrifice but Ray… It was naive of her but she’d never thought that he would ever target the Arrow or find out that Oliver was the one under the hood. Ray was a good man, with noble ambitions but she knew the moment she kissed him tonight that he wasn’t the man she would choose.

As she suspected, when she came down the stairs, Oliver was there training. He only went home to check on Thea these days and since she’s opted to stay with Roy to avoid being around Merlyn 24/7, he rarely left the Glades at all.

In her head, she rehearsed everything she wanted to say to him. All her frustration, every word she wished she had said before he left to go up against Ra’s the first time. But as she got closer and took the stairs to the foundry basement level and she heard the metal clang of the salmon ladder, her nerve started to fail her. She didn’t consider herself a femme fatale. Men didn’t get weak at the knees over her. Men didn’t get tongue tied in her presence. Men didn’t try to beat her to doors to open them for her. She found herself doubting not for the first time, if he cared about her but didn’t desire her at all. And that’s why he could say he loved her but didn’t fight for her.

She bristled and set her coat and her bag down on her swivel chair.

Her heart hammering and her feminine pride bruised, remembering Isabel’s smug smile and sexy sashay from Oliver’s hotel room burned in her mind’s eye.

“I’m not happy, damn it. I’m not happy because you refuse to be. I put so much of myself into this, into you, us, the Arrow that for a long time that’s all I was. And that was okay,” she protested seeing his guilty look. “I chose this, and I’m still choosing it but I want you to tell me honestly. If I walked away right now… Would you even ask me to stay? Would you fight for me?”

A flash of hurt and shock flickered over his face before he locked it away.

Felicity curled her hands into fists and let out a hiss through her teeth. “That’s what I thought. I’m dispensable, forgettable, replaceable… Any warm body will do? You can just pick up another techie, another Girl Wednesday. You don’t do feelings, right? The more impersonal and efficient the better.”

She felt a tear snake down her cheek when she saw his jaw tick with tension and his eyes flash with hurt. She knew her words hurt, they hurt her to say but she had to. She was going to break through his walls, even if it took a sledgehammer.

He needed this. They both did. What he was doing wasn’t healthy. She was done denying what she felt for him. She was in love with him and she refused to let him destroy himself, and a chance to live because he was afraid.

“I’ll walk away, if that’s what it takes. It doesn’t really matter because here, not here, I can still hurt you. I know you, Oliver. A lot better than you think and better than you know yourself, maybe. Who are you protecting? Me? Slade knows you love me, Nyssa knows, the League knows, Merlyn knows, Helena knows,” she snorted in a very unladylike fashion and met his eyes unrepentantly. “And you can bet that Waller knows it too. So why keep me at arm’s length? Do you regret ever going on that date? Do you regret kissing me? It certainly feels like it?”

She had started pacing so she missed the rapid blinking that signalled he was anxious and the redness creeping up his neck to his hairline that warned a pending outburst of temper.

“You think I regret anything we did together?”

Felicity’s Oliver emotional radar twitched the moment his voice dropped a couple octaves to his Arrow persona. But this wasn’t about threatening, she could feel his emotions as though they were tangible, leaving him in waves. They washed over her a mix of incredulous, hurt and mocking words. Her gaze flew to his and she could read the heat and focus in their sharp blue depths.

She sucked in a breath and froze mid-step. He stalked to her and stopped no more than an inch away, staring down at her from his considerable height. She often forgot how tall he was, she was always wearing heels but considering she’d been hoping for dancing at Diggle’s wedding she’d chosen shorter more comfortable ones. And strangely or not with all the running around she’d done the past two days, she’d stuck with the lower heels.

“That I could regret a single moment with you. How for one brief moment I got to hold you the way I’ve thought about a thousand times. That I could ever forget or regret the one time I got to taste and feel your lips, the softness, the heat, your sweetness.” He leaned down until he could practically taste the cherry of her gloss.

“What are you waiting for,” she dared to breathe, soaking in his overwhelming presence. Oliver just had to be in a room and she could sense him. Like gravity. She didn’t need to see him, she could feel him like a intangible tether. He was her port and she would sail to him, weather any storm, do anything he asked because he was her safe harbour. Why couldn’t he see that she would only be safe with him. That she would only feel whole and happy sharing her life with him. She couldn’t do that, she wouldn’t be whole if he shut her out of his heart.

Oliver searched her face and read the submission in her eyes. “A guy whose never felt rejection before, Felicity, I was waiting for you.”

Felicity hooked her fingers into the belt loops of his pants and pulled him flush against her. She watched his eyes dilate and his nostrils flare with the force of his sudden exhale. “Fight for me, Oliver. Fight for us. Don’t push me away, when all I want is right here.” She bypassed touching his chest, doing her best to ignore the grisly new scar there that had most stolen him from her forever. She reached up and caressed his stubble covered cheeks and pulled his head down the fraction more for their mouths to meet.

Oliver lost himself to the kiss. The band around his heart snapping under the strain of emotion she created in his chest. He didn’t feel the tears or way his whole body trembled. Felicity didn’t let him go, not even when his knees buckled and they went to the floor. He broke the kiss and buried his face in her neck, breathing her in, her warmth, her light, the comfort he found in her surprisingly strong embrace.

His voice was hoarse and gravely when he spoke, “What about Ray?”

Felicity let out a deep shuddering breath and hugged him tighter. “Ray knows how I feel about you.”

Oliver straightened reluctantly and cupped his hand to her cheek. “And just how is that? I seem to recall you saying I was one of your closest friends?”

Felicity blushed and turned her head to press a kiss to his palm. She smiled brightly at him. “You’re my best friend, Oliver.” She watched his eyes close and his lips thin and she teased his bottom lip with her index finger. “I love you, Oliver Queen.” She watched his gorgeous eyes snap open and fix on hers. “Who says I can’t be devoted, insanely attracted to and in love with my best friend?”

Oliver’s face broke into the warmest smile she’d ever seen that it brought happy, delirious tears to her eyes.

“Love you. Sometimes I wish I could turn it off. It would be easier. You would be so much safer, away from me, with someone better, not tainted and hunted.”

Felicity brushed away the deep furrow between his brows. “I’ve made my own share of enemies, Oliver. I’m not this perfect paragon you make me out to be. Don’t put me on a pedestal. It’ll only make it ten times more painful when you watch me fall. I’m not perfect, I don’t try to be and neither are you. We can be imperfectly perfect together.”

Oliver leaned forward and touched his forehead to hers. “Okay,” he conceded, his voice softening with his defeat.

The tension he’d been feeling since he came back to Starling to find a city gone mad and a team that had moved on without him, fell away. In her arms, her face tucked against his, he never felt more whole and weightless. He felt free.

Felicity ran her fingers over his hair. It was even softer than she’d imagined and every nerve in her body was alive with the sensation, the soft satiny bristles invoked from her fingertips to her toes. She moved her face and kissed his neck, feeling his strong heartbeat thump against her lips.

“Together?” she asked, her voice full of hope and a hint of uncertainly. Only he could do that to her, she had taken him at his word not long after they started working together and she realized how important he’d come to be to her. He promised to never leave but he had, several times already. She wasn’t sure she could handle uncertainly, maybes or doubts anymore. It was as though her future, her heart were in his hands now. He could break her too she was just discovering. She held onto him tighter, he felt real, strong and present. But for how long, till he pushed her away again or something else took him.

 

Oliver threaded his hands into her hair and pulled her back slightly so he could see her wide blue eyes behind her trademark glasses. “Together,” he said softly, reverently and he followed that promise with a kiss.

 

His eyes were honest, open and the hint of his previous smile still crinkling at the corners of his eyelids. Their world was dangerous. Their enemies knew their weakness but somehow, in the circle of their arms, the darkness couldn’t touch them. Because they would fight, together.


	3. His Bestie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU for Ep 3.20
> 
> Thea calls her his bestie, but to Oliver she is so much more than that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Completely based on speculation thanks to Stephen Amell's Olicity comments and news spoilers for Ep 20. Written after the Paleyfest. :) Yep another one. The last I promise.

[Ext. Jet, private airstrip]

Felicity helped John unload the suitcases from the trunk of the car and looked up to see Thea and Malcolm climb out of the van Oliver had driven. She did her best to keep the scowl off her face but from John's cough next to her, she knew she hadn't been completely successful.

Lugging her computer bag over her shoulder and extracting the handle of her carry on, she made her way up the stairs. Leaving John to get the rest of the equipment into the cargo hold.  
She had picked a seat that had a small table in front of it and froze when she saw Malcolm comfortably settle into the seat opposite.

Inwardly, she fumed. It wasn't a small jet. There were plenty of seats, granted they weren't all Lazyboys but really, she was going to have to endure looking at his mug for 14 hrs?

"We need you. Oliver might trust you but I don't. So let me just tell you this. I don't have slick ninja skills, I'm pants at archery and guns make me nervous but all I need is Wi-Fi and I will destroy you. You can kiss goodbye any slushy cushy assets you think you've squirreled away and the best you can hope for is living out of a trash can waiting for the Feds to catch up with you. Which won't be very long because I'll make sure they've got a hot trail leading right to you."

"Wow," Thea breathed.

Felicity whirled around to find Thea, Oliver, and John standing behind her wearing a mixture of expressions of wary amusement and awe.

"What? You said I had to play nice. This is me being nice. If I wasn't being cordial, I would just take him down the second he sets a toe wrong and leave him out to dry. Nice means giving him fair warning at least."

Oliver let out a long breath but didn't argue, he just shook his head with a small smile.

"Now I know why you're the one Ollie wanted. Isabel Rochev's got nothing on you." Their mother had argued with Oliver over his choice of EA extensively saying she wasn't qualified and she had no experience and he couldn't afford to take the risk as CEO when the company was already in so much turmoil. Granted that was all their mother's fault but it didn't stop her from saying her piece every chance she could. Thea offered her a high five, and Felicity took it. "Please say you'll be my new bestie?"

Felicity watched her for sincerity and when she found no trace of teasing in her face, she gave Thea a demure smile. "Sure," she said warmly.

"Awesome," Thea replied with a bounce in her step. She saw Oliver's serious face fall back into place and sighed inwardly. Felicity couldn't do all the heavy lifting where getting her brother out of a flunk was concerned. "You know how to share right, Ollie? She's one of your only besties but she needs woman time."

The younger woman heard Dig protest under his breath but ignored him. "What am I? Chopped liver?"

Thea rolled her eyes. Bros don't count as besties. Dig was Ollie's big brother from another mother. Oliver had only had one bestie before and that was Tommy, but he was gone. She hadn't thought anyone could fill those shoes but Felicity was managing it all okay. She watched Oliver blush and fluster and look adorably confused. Had he forgotten Felicity was a woman and not a go-to search engine/team glue? "You know, shoe shopping, mani and pedi, trashy mags and pajama vegathons. Girl's Night," she said with an excited grin. "I haven't done one of those in so long... Too long," she said with a put upon huff.

Felicity watched their exchange with amusement and it didn't escape her notice that this easy banter and relaxed air these siblings shared made Malcolm bristle with distaste. She smirked at him. Well boo hoo for him, he made his bed a long time ago. Now he had to live with that. She sat in her seat and pondered that some more. One could argue that she'd made some pretty big foul ups herself. Felicity sighed. Ray wasn't a bad person, he just wasn't the man for her.

It only took him threatening and outing Oliver for her to realize that. Her mother's disapproval was just the icing on that already baked cake.

Oliver took a seat on the lounge next to Thea and buckled in.

Felicity tucked her bag in the wall compartment securely before seeing to her own seat-belt so that she was ready for take off. She could hardly wait till they were in the air so she coils start working.

[Int. Jet]

Felicity had been researching members of the League, financial records, family history and combing through Intel ARGUS had built over the over the ten years during Amanda's tenure. The reference information spanned more than a century.

She reached for her coffee absently and brought it to her lips. The stone cold liquid touched her tongue and the separated curdling milk taste nearly made her throw up a little in her mouth. How long had she been working? Once glance at her phone gave the answer. She'd been at this for three hours straight.

Looking around the cabin she saw that Thea was asleep on the lounger, a light throw covering her. John, she knew was co-piloting and she didn't expect to see him unless he was taking a bathroom break. Malcolm turned from looking out the window, no doubt his freaky ninja skills had told him she was watching. He gave her a questioning raised eyebrow and a twitch of a smile. Where had Oliver gotten to? She shouldn't have to suffer his BFF alone. Her stomach decided to remind her that the last time she'd eaten was a chicken salad for lunch. Now that she was no longer distracted she was starving.  
Growling slightly, she stood and snatched up her spoiled coffee.

"No offer for a beverage service?"

Felicity fixed him with a frosty glare. "Unless you want it laced with iocaine?"

At his dismissive but amused smile, Felicity took it to mean he understood that she was never going to do more than endure his presence. He was a necessary evil. He was a fount of firsthand knowledge of their most fearsome enemy turned tentative ally. He was an asset. And she knew that in his own weird, twisted way, he cared about the Queen siblings and with their many enemies, protectors like Merlyn weren't to be dismissed so lightly.

Still musing over her thoughts she ran smack into a wall. Well not really a wall. Oliver. Although he sort of was...a wall that is...of well defined solid muscle under tanned tattooed surprisingly soft skin. She shook her head to clear her nonsense waxing poetic over his prefect pectorals to notice the large coffee stain on his nice merino sweater.

Her eyes flew up to his and he quirked an eyebrow no doubt in anticipation of her legendary rambling to cover her nervousness. "I'm so sorry. Here let me fix this." She grabbed his hand and marched them down the narrow passage to the tiny bathroom near the sleeping area at the tail end of the plane.

Oliver followed her with a bemused smile, wondering what she was up to and if he should draw attention to the fact that her fingers were tucked between his and this was the first time they had ever held hands while not under some form of duress. His smile grew and he consciously squeezed her hand a little tighter, enjoying the cool softness of her skin against his rough warmth.

She pulled him through the miniature door and he turned at the last second so that his shoulders wouldn't catch the door frame. She urged him to sit on the padded toilet seat and started tugging at his sweater.

He frowned at her and shifted nervously. He watched her face but she seemed not to notice his attention, fully absorbed in her task.

"Up," she commended and he dutifully raised his arms. She had the sweater up over his head pretty efficiently. And left out a small huff of impatience when she noticed it had gone right through to his white undershirt. "Well that's gotta go too."

He considered protesting, he couldn't move himself but he wasn't sure it was a good idea being in this close a proximity to her, half naked, knowing that she was no longer with Ray 'piss him off' Palmer.

Felicity took off his shirt and turned to put them both in the sink. Running water over the stains, she pumped the liquid soap and started rubbing. Focused on her task she said, "I promise you washing them straight away they'll be good as new. You won't even see a mark." Her eyes darted up and blue connected with blue in the mirror.

She stilled and he watched her gaze slide over his scarred torso. He fought to remain seated and no immediately retreat. Even though he worked out shirtless a lot, it was for a purpose. This... This felt like he was being examined and even though logically it made zero sense, since she had seen his upper body plenty of times, even patched him up herself a handful of those, he couldn't help feeling like he was imperfect, ugly and flawed. That the outside reflected the inside, that she would finally see his soul and run. That she would see this broken, tainted man who had hurt her enough already and finally give up completely. He'd already pushed her enough that she'd distanced herself emotionally before.

Felicity turned off the tap and put her hand to his scruff covered cheek. "All this, it did bother me." He flinched but she merely smiled at him and framed his face with her other hand. "Silly Oliver, not the way you think. It bothered me that anyone was capable of inflicting that kind of pain on a person."

His eyes clouded and his throat closed up. He was exactly that kind of person. If she knew the things he'd done to ordinary people, one in particular guilty of nothing more than being an unwitting pawn in China's plans, she would be horrified, disgusted.

Felicity brushed her thumb over his cheek trying to soothe the tension from his body. "I know who you are, Oliver. You're a survivor and I know you're ashamed of your past. Just like Sara hated what the League made her, you hate yourself for what those years away on the Island, in Hong Kong and Russia and where ever else you might have ended up turned you into." She smiled at him softly. "I know who you are." She put her hand over his heart. "You're the man who will sacrifice himself to protect the innocent. You live a half life because you think it's the only way."

Oliver reached up for her wrists and took them from his face. He stood up and she moved back to give him room, reluctantly dropping her arms away. He didn't release her though. Even though he knew he needed the distance, even the half a foot the small space allowed, it was helping him breathe but he couldn't let her go yet.

"I think about it you know," she said wistfully.

He wasn't sure he could trust his voice but he needed to ask anyway. She was studying him with such intensity, a regretful look in her eyes that he had to know what she was thinking. "About what?" he prompted gently.

"I wonder if things would have been different if I hadn't walked away from you in the hospital that night."

Oliver felt his stomach twist in reminder of how much it had hurt for her to shut him down completely and walk away. He needed her. He wanted her. He just wasn't sure how to put it into words that he couldn't be the Oliver Queen everyone expected him to be, that he might fail her expectations, that he was afraid but he wanted her... Needed her... Desperately. He still did. He didn't feel that he had a right to have any desires, to ask anymore of her than she already gave him. The Hood/Arrow consumed his life, he didn't want it to ruin hers. She deserved more than that, she deserved so much more than a empty shell like him. He was fractured so many times over he wasn't sure he could ever be while again. He was poison. Everyone he touched, he tainted, destroyed... He got people killed. Every time he closed his eyes he saw their faces and he woken in a panicked cold sweat more than once because the face he'd seen was hers.

Felicity felt a shudder run through his body and grabbed his arm, holding one of his hands tightly, anchoring him to her.  
She waited until he opened his those clear, prefect blue eyes that could convey so many different emotions. He could never hide the truth in his eyes. She saw those depths filled with self loathing and pain.

"You know, I never got to tell you because you decided to just walk away and leave me waiting for my brain to catch up to my heart but I know two things too."

Oliver blinked. His lips parting slightly as he watched her wet her lips. He squeezed her hand encouraging her, waiting for her to tell him what he both craved and feared to hear fall from her mouth.

"Firstly, I know you're a good man. You're the hardest on yourself, but don't worry because I will always to remind you of that you're worth it." She reached up and traced along his jaw, getting him to relax it's rigid set. 

He saw her throat work and realized she was nervous. She set her shoulders and held her hand to his face.

"And the second thing..." she paused and watched his eyes closely, waiting a bit to make sure he was right there with her and not locked in his head of doubts and guilt. "I love you, Oliver. The man, the mask, the scars, every facet that makes you, you." She ran her fingers lightly over his wounds from Ra's. "These don't deter me. They serve as a reminder of just how strong you are, how much you have endured to survive. How much you're willing to do for the ones you love. I know I said I don't want to be a woman that you love, but that's because I wasn't ready to accept, to understand that sometimes the scars aren't just on the outside."

Felicity sighed and squeezed his hand growing more nervous over the fact that he seemed frozen. His eyes uncharacteristically unfocused. She wrapped her arms around herself and missed how his eyes snapped to attention and his hand gravitated to her and flexed from the lack of contact.

"I really should have known better but I blame you a little for putting Malcolm Merlyn in my face. It's hard to see anything beyond that evil smirking smug face and..."

He whirled her to him, breaking her ramble and her attempt at pacing in the shoe box of a bathroom and kissed her.  
He savored the touch of her lips, the way they slid against his, the shape, feel and taste of them. He devoured the breathless little sigh that traveled from her mouth to his. This is the balm that his soul had been searching for these long torturous last few months. His heart remembered what it felt like to have her in his arms and felt lighter and beat stronger than it had in what seemed like a lifetime. He was a drowning man who had found his oasis and he wasn't sure he could deny himself this ever again. His heart skipped a beat when she pulled away.

But the dreamy look in her eyes and the smile on her lips let him live again. "Some of us mere mortals need to breathe. This is not me walking away. I can handle a maybe. Just please don't make me wait forever."

[edit..cutting room floor]

He felt her fingers untangling from his and he wasn't going to have any of that. He swept her to him, crushing her to his chest. He claimed her mouth again, muffling her surprised cry and then her willing surrender.

He shifted his hands to her hips and lifted her to the bench by the sink. Stepping between her legs, he found a new reason to smile about the flared dress she was wearing. Her knees were cold where his hands caressed and when she broke away to let out a desperate moan he made use of the access she'd given with her head thrown back.

"Tell me to stop," he breathed against her throat. The sweet scent of her was intoxicating and he needed more. He wanted to kissed and explore every bit of her. He wanted to travel his hands, lips and tongue over every expanse of skin. And the noises of pleasure she was making where beginning to crack that minuscule measure he had of self restraint. "Felicity," he growled in warning.

Felicity leaned forward and bit his earlobe lightly, dragging, tugging it between her teeth. She laved at it with her tongue and felt him release a full bodied shudder. "I. Want. You," she said in reply.

Oliver felt the band snap. He took her lips hungrily and put her hands on his stomach. She made short work of his belt and he unzipped her dress. His breath leaving his chest in a rush the first time his calluses fingers palmed the bare skin of her back. For a long movement he just explored the naked smooth softness of her skin. He was in a state of euphoria. Felicity was kissing him and he was holding her like there was no tomorrow.

There very well might not be. It was a hazard of the job. The lives they'd chosen to lead.

Felicity wriggled her shoulders and dropped her arms so that the dress pooled around her hips.

Vaguely he understood that the unhindered exploration of her back meant she wasn't wearing a bra but his brain hadn't really prepared for the sight. From her blush and pleased expression he guessed that he was probably staring and gaping like a horny idiot.

Felicity knew she wasn't something to write home about in the asset department but from Oliver's intense appreciation, she figured she was more than enough for him.

"You're beautiful. Perfect," he whispered in reverence, before he proceeded to show her just how much he thought so.  
She tried to be quiet she really did. But he didn't make it easy, twisting his hips and angling hers. Sucking and biting her shoulder and stealing what little oxygen she managed to get between cries and curses with his all consuming kisses.  
All too soon she was shattering to pieces in his arms, falling limp and blacking out momentarily while the only part of her body capable of feeling and functioning if erratically and involuntarily around his hard length locked deep inside her.  
He whispered his desire and love for her in her ear as he stroke her through the orgasm of her life before her pushed hard one last time and let out a tortured, groan of pain pleasure and let go.

She cradled his damp head against the sensitive juncture where her shoulder met her neck. It showed just how far gone she was that his breath against her skin there didn't make her body recoil. She hadn't always been sensitive there but The Count and Slade had messed with her nerves. It made her feel warm and relaxed believing that Oliver could heal everything that was broken in her. After her father had abandoned her, she had a lot of trouble letting people in. And when she did make friends sometimes she hung on too tight and a few times she'd lost a little bit of herself along the way. Like she had with Cooper and for a moment there, with Oliver too when Sara had come around.

So she was taking her mother's advice.

"Felicity, honey, love isn't a feeling. It's an act of faith and a commitment. Love should be a verb. The ones we love will disappoint us, hurt us, sometimes even push us to our limit... But if you really love them, your love won't ever fail. Don't give up on love just because it might be hard right now. Live one day at a time. There's no such thing as this fairytale romance. He might surprise you when you least expect it. Oliver is worth it, honey. I've seen how he looks at you. Having someone's respect and being treated as an equal, that's something worth treasuring."

In truth, with everything that was happening in their lives since her mother said those words to her, she hadn't even envisioned that anything like this could happen between them. She wanted to show her unconditional support of him, of her family, Diggle, Roy, and now Thea too. So color her surprised was an inadequate reference to describe her state of mind. Dance on air, squee with happiness surprised was close but horribly cliche and nothing about the man holding her right now was cliche. Oliver was dark, but his heart was light. He was so strong yet fragile at the same time. Like the right woman with the wrong intentions could break him. She would not be that woman. What he'd given her, what she realized he had trusted her with the first time he'd said those words to her hit her with a powerful intensity. He was still wrapped around her inside her but she never felt more connected to a person than in that moment. Here was this incredible, driven, capable man, and she had his heart in her hands. His pants around his ankles, her heels poking him unashamedly and he was smiling his sexy grin without a care in the world.

Ra's and the League looming over them like death couldn't burst her bubble of immeasurable bliss. Tomorrow would come, there was no stopping the dawn. But she wasn't afraid. It might be naive of her but she believed that together they could face anything. Their family stood united with them. They couldn't fail.

Felicity wrapped her arms around his neck and held him tightly. She breathed in the familiar, comforting masculine scent of him and kissed his damp skin. Her heart still beat wildly in her chest and part of her was yelling for caution, to not get ahead of herself, to steel herself against disappointment, but she knew it was futile. She was all in, head over feet and she didn't care. He was worth it.

There might never be a white dress and grand cake or dancing in their future but one thing she knew for certain was that he loved her completely. There wasn't anyone else for him. This past year had proved that beyond a doubt. As she leaned back to look at his face and caught his gaze, she could read that undeniable truth. His touch and his love was healing her hurts. One crack at a time. Perhaps someday, maybe, he'd let her do the same for him.


	4. The Fern That Broke

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We all have our breaking points. One careless idiot in blue and Felicity finally gives Capt. Lance a piece of her mind. In true, Loud Voice, Smoak-style.
> 
> Ep Fix for 3.19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started writing this in the morning hoping to finish it and get it posted on my lunch break. But typical Murphy’s Law, everything went to crap. Ended up working through lunch and had to stay back late to fixing server problems so I didn't even get to see how the episode went or post the short before it aired.
> 
> But I decided to post it anyway since this would not leave me alone after all that fern talk on Twitter and an EP who I just can’t read anymore.. 
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoy. It certainly felt a little cathartic for me.

::: ::: :::

Diggle would say that it was the little potted plant that broke the dam. When she heard, Laurel would say it was a long time coming. Thea would applaud and Oliver was still hoping there wouldn’t be any fallout.

Felicity couldn’t help it. Honestly they should have anticipated it and cleared out before now. After all, Captain Lance had it in for Oliver. And Roy had confessed to being the Arrow, spent a lot of time and was general manager of Verdant. A prime location in the Glades to run a secret base of operations.

They’d made them all wait around and watch while the SCPD tore apart everything they’d built in the last two years since The Undertaking.

Equipment bagged and tagged, furnishings in ruins and everything that wasn’t bolted down, taken. And really, who cared how they did things. This was a den of criminal activity…the fern. Her only adornment in a seemingly sterile, Spartan environment, and been carelessly, ignorantly knocked to the floor. Felicity, scooped it up and carefully re-potted it in a empty ream box. She’d buy a new pot from a hardware store on the way home.

As the last of the officers were leaving, Felicity shook off Lance’s hand on her forearm. She fixed him with a piercing glare. “I respected you once. You’re right, there shouldn’t be vigilantes keeping the streets safe. That’s your job, but you’re not doing it. You’ve got all this power and what do you do with it? Hunt the person who’s done nothing but devote his every effort to keeping Starling City safe. Why don’t you target the real villains in this story? Sara was The Canary long before she came to Starling and started working with the Arrow,“ she hissed softly.

“Don’t you dare. Don’t bring her into this,” he growled at her threateningly.

Felicity was too riled up to care that he was getting in her face. Her mother said that her rare bouts of temper, she had inherited from her father. She was in fine form right now and she’d do him proud.

“That’s the problem! You were fine working with the Arrow until you found out that Sara had been killed. Don’t blame him for the lies. You want to know who was there when she died? Who brought her in and made the call to keep you in the dark? Laurel, but I think you’ve punished her enough. Hang on to the family you’ve got. The world we live in can steal that away in a heartbeat. If you’re not happy with the status quo, you only have yourself to blame.”

She was relieved to see his jaw unclench a little but his eyes still glared at her murderously and his posture hadn’t relax. Nor did she miss the way he glanced over her shoulder at whom she knew was sitting behind them. 

“You’re angry because she was taken from you, you’re blaming the wrong person. Malcolm Merlyn didn’t become the Dark Archer by accident. All those impersonators you’ve got running around the city, putting arrows in people. The one who killed the mayor. They were all trained by the same man, Ra’s a Ghul. Dust that enormous chip off your shoulder, throw away those tunnel vision glasses. You’ve only got the Glades back because there are some people who refuse to let evil take over. All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing. Right now, you’re worse doing worse than nothing. You’re hunting those that would help you. Taking the Arrow and people like him off the streets… the world is bigger than you think it is Captain Lance, and I really don’t want to be around to see your face when you realize I’m right.”

“When you lie in your bed at night, ask yourself this. Where was Oliver Queen when the Undertaking first began? Where was he when thugs decided to play Robin Hood and started randomly targeting people all over the city after the earthquake in the Glades? And more importantly, what did I tell you when you asked for help after Brick started terrorizing the city? You never cared about the man behind the mask while the arrangement worked for you. Don’t start now just because you have no where else to put all that anger and bitterness. Be the better man, the one Sara loved, the one that Laurel needs.” 

She stepped away and picked up the white box from where she’d left it safely tucked under the stairs, away from the possibility of being trampled further by inconsiderate oafs.

Lance didn’t stop her when she shouldered her precious cargo and made to move past him. 

“You know where to find me,” she said stiffly. “But before you decide to arrest anyone else on trumped up charges, I recorded every single one of our conversations and I have video surveillance of you meeting up with both Canaries. With the new tech Palmer Technologies is going to sell to the DOD to advance facial recognition and targeting in the real fight against terrorism. Well, wouldn’t want to be you.”

The sound of her heels on the stairs echoed in the large open space that was so quiet, you could hear the pipes that leaked. 

She didn’t turn around but Digg would tell her that Lance had gone whiter than bleached paper. With the servers gone, all the cameras in the lair were down. There was a program on her phone that deactivated any listening devices in the vicinity of her person. He’d get nothing from their conversation but a warning. Lance was playing hardball with them, he needed to know that she would only be pushed so far. Her temper wasn’t the only thing she’d inherited from her father.


	5. Fade To Black

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Written for Scu11y22
> 
> Who wanted a short that elaborated on Felicity's transition from red nails in Nanda Parbat to black nails in Ep 3.21

On the plane ride back while she held a sleeping Thea, Felicity stared at her nails. The red against the paleness of her skin was taunting her with memories of those fingers caressing scarred but beautiful skin. He had firm, smoothness between that scar tissue and she had memorized every single one. As they lay together in the afterglow of their glorious love-making she had absently stroked his Bratva tattoo beneath the bullet-wound that had started it all. This partnership, this friendship, this love.

He had whispered more stories to her. More of his time in Hong Kong, Shado’s sister and the other tattoos.

She should have anticipated then what the sharing had been about. Oliver said it wasn’t goodbye but in his heart he’d known what Ra’s would do. He knew and he was afraid he’d never get to share all of himself with her. That no one would ever know the Oliver that had survived the island and the five years he’d been in hell.

She had done her best to show him, to prove to him she knew who he was and that she loved him regardless.

It was her secret. It was her anonymity and it gave her power. There was a reason why she had set up the lair the way she had. Felicity loved Cosplay. Her goth period was just a very small part of a much larger wardrobe and every day she got to have a little bit of her fantasy life spill over to the real word in her nail color.

Red was Oliver.

Red was their thing.

She didn’t realize it until now but whether consciously or unconsciously, she always wore red and associated red with him.

With fondness and a soft snort in memory she recalled the first time she’d worn red for him and what her runaway mouth, lack of filter in full show had said to him that night. Boy, did she know how good he felt inside her.

She shifted a little, an ache she wouldn’t be able to soothe blooming between her thighs. She wanted to slap herself at where her brain had gone while his sister was innocently sleeping in her lap. Bad Felicity.

It wasn’t until she’d told Laurel and broken down over it, that they’d left Oliver there. The dam she’d been building around her emotions had crumbled.

She had left him. It didn’t matter that they had no choice. It shouldn’t have mattered that she could have been killed, she should have fought harder, tried something else…

When she left Laurel that night and gone home, those red nails still glaring up at her, she knew it was time for Bad Ass Felicity to come out to play.

Bad Ass Felicity couldn’t hit a target with a glock at fifty paces. She couldn’t take on a ninja with nothing but her fists. She didn’t have a Canary Cry, or a katana but she was the mother of all hackers and she knew her tech. Felicity would get their team anything they wanted, she could arm them all to the teeth, she could rally her heroes and she was sure she could break through whatever brainwashing and indoctrination Ra’s would try on her man.

But she needed her armor to do it, so for now the red would have to go.

Dragging out the 100 bottle kit from the storage drawer under the sofa, she put her feet up on the coffee table, she unscrewed the acetone and got to work.

Bad Ass Felicity was black.

But red would be back. Just as soon as Al Sa-him was gone for good.


	6. Dirty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver learns that Felicity has a phobia he doesn't know about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A hiatus short. Our loved up duo have settled for the time being in Cancun, it's far enough away from Starling, being that they're in another country with a Gulf between them but still close enough to home, to worry less. 
> 
> Felicity learns just how many domestic talents Oliver has, while realizing there's only one kind of dirty she's interested in.

When Felicity came home from her tech expedition to find the most well stocked electronics store in Cancun, she found Oliver on his knees in the backyard of their small house, up to his elbows in dirt and he was smiling.

She stood frozen, bags in hand, car door still open and watched him in fascinated shock. Granted she had seen him posed as Tarzan totally at home in the trees half naked but for some reason she had never pictured this. 

He seemed to sense her and looked up to give her a wide smile, perfect pearly whites catching the mid afternoon sun. It was such a good look on him and never failed to make her smile in return. 

Felicity found her voice, "So this is where you disappear to?"

Oliver sat back on his legs and gave her a sheepish smile. "Old habits. I keep growing the herbs. Usually do it in a hot house so there's less chance of disease or bugs."

Felicity nodded realizing that he had to have been growing the island herbs for his supply not to have run out by now. It wasn't as though you could mail order the stuff from Lian Yu. Who was going to pick and ship it for him, Slade or Harkness? She snorted inwardly at the thought. They'd both likely poison the batch regardless of who was doing the ordering. No community service for either of those too.

"Come give me a hand. Don't you want to get your hands dirty?" He asked with a teasing waggle of his eyebrow.

Felicity backed away, bumping the car door closed. "No, this Vegas girl never got down in the dirt for anyone. Epic fatality on a manicure."

Oliver grabbed up a huge clump of dirt and stood, heading in her direction. Felicity took one look at the dark gritty pile in his hands that had one more than one pink wriggling thing poking from between his fingers and shrieked, almost dropping her hundreds of dollars worth of new tech hardware.

Oliver saw the look on her face and immediately quickened his pace concerned about her sudden change in pallor and the shaking of her body.

"Don't come any closer," she screamed and ran for the back door of the house.

Oliver froze, his face falling as her words and her terror hit home. She was scared witless and he just couldn't get past the fact that she'd only been looking at him. There wasn't anyone else or any immediate danger. He never let his guard down, he was aware of every shrub, house, resident, kid, stray dog and goat in the neighbourhood.

Then it dawned. He still had the dirt in his hands. She was afraid of dirt? He looked down and saw the earth worm that was trying to escape daylight after being rudely torn from its burrow. His hands, rough from regular working out and using all manner of weapons and tools had lost a lot of sensitivity. His skin was dry and cracked with thick callouses. She was scared of worms? She'd never mentioned that. But then she'd also implied she'd never been a gardener.

He dropped his handful back in the garden bed and sprinkled a bit of moist planting mix on top to rescue the worm from the afternoon sun. Then he went to wash his hands.

He found Felicity inside at the kitchen counter. She hadn't unpacked her bags and she was vacantly staring out the window to the backyard. Had she been watching him? What was she thinking? He found it really hard to guess what she was thinking. She was so smart and her brain could be thinking on so many different tangents at once at lot of which were foreign territory for him. He was a fast study but he never finished college and a lot of the time Felicity started talking science or tech he felt completely out of his element.

"I'm sorry," he said sincerely.

Felicity shook her head and hastily brushed the tear tracks from her cheeks. "It's crazy. I didn't even know I was terrified of them until I saw you bringing them over. I didn't know what I was thinking. I just felt my heart spike at a hundred beats a minute and my brain went numb and I just panicked. I know it's stupid. I know you would never let anything hurt me," she sniffled and looked up at him with watery eyes. 

He took her in his arms swiftly and hugged her tightly feeling her body relax against his. He breathed her in, her warmth and scent pervading his senses and calming his own irrationally rapid heartbeat. He would always worry for her safety and her happiness. Secretly he was also worried that one day she would wake up and realize how dark and tainted his soul was. That some of the things he'd done were monstrous. That part of him was a monster in deceptive clothing. And then she'd would leave and never look back. His hands shook but he hid it well by pressing them firmly in the small of her back. He kissed her hair and leaned back to lift her chin. He kissed her until he had his fill and he caught her happy breathless sigh. 

"Wait here a second. I have a surprise for you. I was going to give it you when you woke up in the morning but now works."

Felicity shook her head with a rueful smile. She was understanding that her lover was a closet dork and a big romantic. He loved kissing her awake in the mornings. He'd join her in the shower just so he could wash her hair and scrub her back, he loved to hold her hand all the time, walking, driving, sitting across the table at dinner. And he was always making gestures, small things to show her, prove to her that he loved her. As though she didn't already believe it with the lengths he went to protect her and Thea. The bargain he'd struck with Malcolm of all people. She shook those frustrating thoughts away. She refused to let the past haunt them. Those dark days were gone. They were happy and more importantly, he was happy and smiling. She would fight to make sure things stayed that way. He deserved it. They deserved this. 

 

When Oliver came back, he was hidden behind a beautiful tropical arrangement of flowers. The scent was amazing and green foliage against the yellows and creams of the flowers were perfectly contrasted and so lush. It must have been expensive.

"Oliver, you don't have to do this kind of thing for me, I..."

He set the arrangement down on the table and grabbed her hands, interlacing their fingers and hastily silencing her protests with a look. "I got a job at the nursery in town, they also have a small florist shop. She let me play around a bit and she said I had a natural instinct for aesthetics."

"You're sure she wasn't just admiring your physical display of aesthetics?" she asked with one delicately arched eyebrow, her fingertips trailing over his hard chest.

Oliver kissed the very end of her nose and smiled down at her. "She's fifty nine with fourteen grandkids."

"And my mother will be 52 this year and looks like my older sister," Felicity huffed and snuggled deeper into his arms.

"I told her these flowers were for the woman who saved my life. The woman I love," Oliver said softly but undoubtedly.

Felicity looked up at him, blinking back a fresh wave of tears. "Had to return the favor. You certainly saved mine often enough."

Oliver pulled her in close and squeezed her in a hug. Having her pressed up against him was beginning to awaken a sleeping dragon. He doubted he'd ever be sated in his need for her. "We save each other. I can admit that now. It's what true partners do."

Felicity flashed him a beaming impressed grin. "I knew you'd come around to seeing things way eventually."

Oliver chuckled and Felicity could note that it was a beautiful sound. She noticed his blush and realized her filter had failed to keep that as a mental note. She kissed the dimple in his cheek and framed his face with her hands. 

"Does that mean I can expect these all the time now?"

Oliver grabbed her ass and then slapped one perfectly rounded curve. "Cheeky."

"Kinky," she teased back, arching into him deliberately.

He groaned and threw his head back as she ground against him. "Felicity," he growled in warning.

Felicity ignored his antics and focused all her attention on the freshly exposed length of his neck and attacked it with practiced precision. The dip where his neck and shoulder met was particularly sensitive to her kisses. He really was easy, she didn't even have to flash him boobs to have him whimpering and grabby.

She might not have any talent when it came to floral arrangements or running a self sustaining home but she knew how to play to her strengths and she knew her way around Oliver's body and mind better than she could navigate the A.R.G.U.S mainframe and that was saying a lot since she was the one that had just upgraded their security systems, well she had headed the team anyway. Digressing. Who need mental wittiness when her man had his very talented fingers down her shorts.


	7. Property Of

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity meets an old friend of Oliver's and feels like a third wheel, until she doesn't.

They were walking through the food market in town deciding what to have for lunch. It was a new trend where Oliver liked her to choose. She didn't even have anything to go on about his palate to help her since he'd been exposed to so many different kinds of food. For a time he'd lived on air as part of his survival. He'd been forced from one form of captivity to another for years, left eat whatever was on offer or risk offending his hosts. He could survive on reptiles and wild birds, or enjoy a tiny bowl of rice or grin over a plate full of salted herring. She didn't want him to be grateful for a meal. The foodie in her wanted him to relish it. Where was the focused, dominant, alpha-type she'd first gotten flustered over and unequivocally told him she had totally checked him out.

_"I'm very particular about what I put in my body."_

_"I've noticed." She blinked rapidly and folded her arms around herself, mentally chastising her brain for lack inner monologue to tongue filter. "I said, NOT noticed, right?"_

She hadn't noticed then but even though he looked like he was under the influence of the worst hangover ever, he'd actually been smiling and struggling not to laugh. Even then she'd been changing his world. He said in the years before they met, nothing good had happened to him. He never had a reason to smile or laugh. She was glad she had been able to change that for him. Even if some of it had been mortifying and at her expense. Oliver assured her it had never been at her. His smile was because of her. He'd probably found her door, looking for a one-off go to for his Hood crusade but he'd found something else. She was not an asset or a familial obligation or responsibility. And especially not a threat or an enemy. Just a person. She was his person.

"You're my person too," she said suddenly, hugging his arm. Oliver grinned at her with an easy smile that transformed his face. He'd been serious a moment earlier, probably scouring the area for any sign of danger and marking every escape route. His happy face warmed her all the way to her toes and she kissed his shoulder.

"How do you feel about enchiladas? I could go for some spicy chicken."

Oliver opened his mouth to reply when a voice called out to them.

"Lily White!" 

Oliver froze but as he turned, Felicity could see that he was fighting an expression between amused and embarrassed.

A tall man, built a lot like Oliver came bounding up to them. He embraced Oliver with a hearty clap on the back. 

"I thought it was you. Doesn't matter how you dress it, I'll always know that ass when I see it."

Felicity's jaw dropped and she looked between Oliver and the man. Where and under what circumstances would this man have seen Oliver's butt to be familiar with it.

Running a hand over his face and shaking his head with a rueful grin. He waved between them in introduction. "Felicity, this is Hal Jordan. Hal, Felicity is my Carol Ferris."

Felicity shook Hal's outstretched hand. "Ferris as in Ferris Air? That's why I know your face. It was bugging me. You're the test pilot that went missing. What happened? Or are you flying under the radar?" she stepped closer with a stage whisper.

Hal smiled at her. "It was a bit touch and go for a bit but I made it back. I've been gone for awhile so I figured my girl and I deserved a holiday." He winked at Oliver. "I can see what you like her. She's cute."

Felicity rolled her eyes. Sara had said the same thing. Did they find her cute because it was their way of saying her quirky brain wasn't unattractive? Or her looks made up for the things that came out of her mouth.

"Both," Hal said still fighting a grin.

Felicity resisted the urge to facepalm and she felt Oliver's lips at her temple.

"One of the many reasons I love you," he said for any and all to hear.

Hal slung his arm over Oliver's shoulders and pulled them in the direction of a bustling cantina. "I'll tell you all about our college years if you tell me how you two met," he said.

"Including how you can spot Oliver's ass," she asked, burning with curiosity.

Hal opened his mouth but Oliver cut him off with a look, while squeezing her fingers, his face betraying his discomfort over having to relieve this particular story.

"It's not a long story. It has to do with the night we all got high and Hal decided we should get tattoos. He got Property of Carol Ferris tattooed cross the top of his butt. I was getting prepped next to him but when I saw the needle, I freaked out. I tried to get away and tripped over my pants. Caught the end of the artist's table on the way down and ended up mooning everyone in the parlour."

"But you've got so many..." His quick squeeze cut her short and she flickered her gaze between Oliver and Hal before she covered her slip. "I didn't think you were scared of anything."

Oliver gave her a small smile. He was terrified of plenty of things. The top of that list was disappointing her. Or just as bad, failing to protect her.

"Oh I don't think he was afraid of the needle. That's Carol's interpretation of what happened. I think he took one look at my tattoo and bailed. That Oliver was commitment phobic."

Felicity squeezed Oliver's hand in reassurance and smiled up at him. He might have been a player in his past but she had no doubts about his commitment to her. To their partnership.

Hal grinned watching them both. They had the look of two people completely gone on each other. "Looks like he grew out of that problem."


	8. Misdirection Ep 4.09 "Dark Water"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompted by Tracy @scu11y22 (Tumblr)
> 
> Who needed a more triumphant spin on all the angst and torture the writers and producers want to leave us with in 'Dark Water'  
> Written before the episode aired and was based on the first trailer only.

 

::: ::: :::

Oliver woke up shaking in a cold sweat. Since learning of HIVE and confronting Damien Darhk, his nightmares had returned.

He looked across at Felicity and he was grateful that his restless and disturbed sleep hadn’t woken her. This wasn’t something he wanted to talk about. She knew what he feared most was losing his family. Losing her. In his nightmare, which felt so real that he couldn’t shake the emotions it had stirred, Darhk had used his worst fear to try and control him, Felicity - his heart, the light and love of his life, Thea and Digg, all caged with a madman’s finger on the execution trigger.

He promised Felicity he would fight Darhk in the light as Oliver Queen, but in his dream, he failed to protect the ones he loved the most, and he’d failed to defeat Darhk.

In the relative darkness of their bedroom, the only light bathing the room in a soft eerie glow from distant city lights, he ran his hands over his face and through his close cropped hair. Suddenly a wave of thoughts hit him all at once and a plan started to take shape in his mind. Thea had told him that because of the Lazarus Pit, whatever dark mojo, Darhk liked to use to turn people into husks, his attack didn’t work on her and actually injured him.

Nyssa wanted Darhk. He was her father’s mortal enemy and even though her relationship with him had been strained and oppressive at best, she had loved him. And she was still loyal to his ideals. HIVE was a threat to the League, their existence and everything they stood for, he could use that to his advantage.

He also needed to put more distance between himself and the Green Arrow. Darhk wasn’t a stupid man, he had probably started to make the connection. His return to Star City and the Green Arrow’s public appearance. And he knew Felicity had helped rescue Ray from his lab and that team Arrow had helped. If he didn’t already have suspicions, he would sooner or later. Better kill that train of thought early.

He got out of bed and made two calls. The latter promised to meet in person. And Oliver left the apartment to meet him in the lair.

“I didn’t expect you to say yes, I know you’ve got your handful with the team.”

Rip picked up the bow and tested the draw back. “Not what I’m used to but I’ve worked with less. And I’ve always admired your ingenuity with your trick arrows.”

Oliver’s mouth twitched with a small smile. “My partner is a genius. Most of those are her ideas.”

“Ah the lovely and talented, Ms. Smoak.”

“Will this work?” Oliver asked, at Rip’s arched eyebrow and thin lipped expression, Oliver nodded. “Right, no future questions.”

“My involvement should be answer enough. However, I will say that your growth in allowing others to fight for themselves, and using Oliver Queen to fight for change is the right course to take.”

Later following the sponsor benefit and seeing his worst fear unfold, he never prayed harder in his life that his burgeoning faith in others would be rewarded.

He’d asked Thea to miss this one benefit, so that when Dhark made his move, she would be ready with Nyssa and the League to attack Dhark’s stronghold in Star City. He didn’t have to look down to know that the locator app in his Palmer Tech watch was active. Because Felicity had upgraded with software to also monitor vital signs, inspired by Barry’s suit capabilities, he had to believe help would come.

With Digg and Felicity behind the thick security plexiglass, he could do nothing but beg wordlessly with his eyes to hang on.

League gas grenades exploded behind him and he heard the thwick of arrows flying thick and fast. He knocked out the henchman closest to him and went around to the exhaust vent, sucking air out of the chamber. He emptied the entire clip in the engine and exploded in a hail of sparks and flame.

Darhk looked surprised to see the Green Arrow and Oliver in the same room but their shock element didn’t slow him down for long.

Thea dressed in her Speedy costume went after Darhk hard with Malcolm fighting in tandem but he seemed to be able to keep them both at bay.

He got Malcolm by the throat, and it was only Thea putting her hands on either side of his head, doing something mystical that made all the vein’s in his face turn black that had him release Malcolm.

Nyssa finished off who she was fighting and stepped over him, chanting something in Arabic, while she withdrew her dagger.

He knew he should stop her but he didn’t. She stabbed it right into Damien Darhk’s heart and Thea let him go as he slumped to the floor.

Oliver picked him up under his arms, grinding his jaw when he saw the slick trail of blood Darhk was leaving as he dragged him along to use his palm print to unlock the door of the cell.

Felicity and Digg were unconscious on the floor.

He fell to his knees and put his fingers to her neck. Panic threatened to overwhelm him when he couldn’t find one.

“Speedy,” he yelled. But when he looked up to find her, she was already there.

“I got him. Just take care of Lis,” she said, quickly bending over John’s form to check him.

For the next minute while he did CPR on the beautiful woman at his knees, he was in agony. Every second that passed that her eyes didn’t open and her lips didn’t part to draw air, he felt his world on the brink of collapse, only a single shred of hope, with Rip standing watch over them that she would come out of this.

Her chest expanded with his push of air and she jerked and coughed, gasping and clutching at him.

“Oliver,” she cried, her eyes frantic and wide.

“I’ve got you. I love you. You’re safe now.” Oliver held her close, pressing kisses into her hair. Tears burned in his eyes and he looked up at Rip over the top of Felicity’s head. “Thank you.”

He glanced at Nyssa then and nodded. She returned his silent thanks and turned to leave.

They weren’t friends, and they never would be, but they seemed be able to manage as allies. And he could live with that.

Digg was coming around and Thea was helping him stand. It was time to go home. Darhk was no longer a threat but there was still a broken city to save.

Tomorrow as another day. But he could face it without this fear, stronger with his family by his side.

 


End file.
